Middlesbrough concern raised over "lethargic" star who was supposed to replace Emmanuel Latte Lath | OneFootball

FLW's Middlesbrough fan pundit has been speaking on the signing of Kelechi Iheanacho.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Kelechi Iheanacho has not hit the ground running as a Middlesbrough player since arriving on loan from Sevilla in the final hours of the winter transfer window.

The 28-year-old striker was drafted in to replace Boro's outgoing centre-forward Emmanuel Latte Lath, but there was a simmering level of skepticism among the Riverside faithful over his signing before he'd even kicked a ball in a red and white shirt.

Having made just 11 appearances for Sevilla in the first half of this season, the former Manchester City and Leicester City man had failed to find the net in La Liga, with all three of his goals for the Spanish side coming in the Copa del Rey.

The Nigerian international only bagged five goals in 23 Championship appearances for last season's second tier title-winning Leicester side, and with him yet to score in his opening seven Middlesbrough appearances, serious questions are being asked over why he was brought to Teesside in the first place.

"So off the pace" - Damming Middlesbrough, Kelechi Iheanacho verdict issued

We asked our Middlesbrough fan pundit, Jasper Hudson: 'Is the decision to sign Kelechi Iheanacho as Latte Lath's short-term replacement proving to be a bit of a disaster? He's still not scored, and appears to be garnering plenty of criticism for his performances.'

Hudson said: "The Iheanacho transfer has just not worked out well at all.

"He's just been so lethargic in games and so off the pace, and not really offered us anything. I don't really see a way in which a deal becomes permanent with him. A move back to England in the Championship, that's what he wants, but he's just not been anywhere near the level of Tommy Conway.

"Conway just seems so much fitter having even come back from injury recently, which is not what you want. So yes, it's not worked out well.

"We knew we were never going to be able to replace Latte Lath, but the expectation was that Iheanacho would come in and do better than he has. The only real positive to take is that it's a loan, we don't have to give him game time, and we can just prioritise Conway.

"Conway - it's good for him now to have a consistent spell of games starting and playing consistent minutes."

Middlesbrough supporters must be wondering what Boro chiefs saw in Iheanacho

Supporters can accept that not every signing will flourish, but the signing of Iheanacho felt a strange one from the minute he arrived on Teesside.

Given how largely excellent Middlesbrough's talent identification and recruitment has been over the last few windows, new arrivals are mostly met with confidence that Boro know what they're doing.

However, Iheanacho's signing never truly had that, with a lot of fans writing it off as being doomed to fail from the get-go. You'd have to say that, so far, those people are being proven right.

It's not his zero goals or assists from his first seven appearances either; it's the fact that Iheanacho is a completely different striker to Latte Lath, and given how prolific he was in Michael Carrick's system, it was presumed that the club would want to bring in a similar profile of a centre-forward to replace him.

Iheanacho may wear the number nine previously occupied by Latte Lath on his back, but his tendency to drift into wide areas, how easily Boro's attacks bypass him at times, and his lack of goal involvements would suggest that he isn't/is no longer a true out-and-out centre-forward.

Therefore, unless he can improve, Middlesbrough certainly don't appear to have found their short, or indeed long-term Latte Lath replacement with Iheanacho.